Goodbye to Grandpa Zimmerman

Amber's grandpa Zimmerman went to his reward last Friday at 92 years old. He served the Lord faithfully for over 70 years, and influenced many many people. He let his light shine to me in the short 8 years that I knew him. His Godly attitude and humble heart were on display daily.

He also showed me how a true Christian marriage should be. He and grandma would call each other "lover" even after 65 plus years of marriage. During the visitation, it warmed my heart to see grandma get up every few minutes, walk over to the casket, kiss grandpa, and whisper to him. What a testimony to all who witnessed it!

Talking to my brother in law Kevin Joos and I in 2005.

Holding Andrew in 2006.

Holding Macy in 2009

Visiting our new house last spring.

Holding Macy 1 month ago as his health was declining.

After the visitation, I brought the kids back to mom Adams' house (where he died). The boys were asking questions about grandpa's bed, machines, etc that were still in the living room. I explained to them that this is where grandpa died. Jayden (who recently learned how to read and is trying to sound out everything he can) looked up to the mantle and said "good thing it says "FAITH" up there!"

I had to think....that is exactly what grandpa would want us to remember. Faith in God above all else. Thanks grandpa for the heritage you left us! We will all miss you, but look forward to that great reunion someday in Heaven!

Pray for the Sauder family

Please pray for the Derek and Leann Sauder family from Tremont IL. They recieved very bad news today about Derek's cancer. You can follow their blog at http://lrsauder.blogspot.com/.

Jayden loses his first tooth!!

Experiencing all of your child's "firsts" in life is the best part of being a parent.

After going weeks with a tooth that is about to fall out, Jayden finally asked me last night to pull it for him. I did it once, it cracked loud, started bleeding, and Jayden started wailing in fear..... I went to get changed from my work clothes, thinking that he wont let me touch him for days, and here he comes, bound and determined to overcome his fear. Through his tears, he says "try again, dad". On the 3rd yank, out it came. He was so excited. He was even more excited this morning, when he woke up, and saw money under his pillow instead of a tooth.

The thought I had last night, was that today I pulled his first tooth, tomorrow I will be letting him drive a car for the first time, then watching him get married, etc etc..... Life goes so fast, enjoy each day that God give you!

Minnesota with the Joos family!

Last weekend we had a great 3 days with Amber sister, and her family. Contrary to popular opinion, Minnesota is hospitable in January (sometimes!).

On Saturday, Kevin and I took the 4 oldest kids to lake Minnewaska to ice fish. Kevin's brother Michael had a bunch of single guys there as well. 55 fish later, we went home..... Andrew and Jayden even got in on the action!

The best part of ice fishing for kids. Hot dogs, unlimited soda, and great times, with no moms around to stop the fun. Below is Kevin and I pulling the kids around their lake with the 4 wheeler.

Adyson, Macy, and Maria having the best of times.

This is a crew. Buzz, Mallory, Mariah, Macy, and Adyson having fun with costumes.

Never having enough

Macy this morning after breakfast, surrounded by more new toys than you can imagine: "mommy, when is it Christmas so we can open presents".....

oh boy, where did we fail...... LOL

Buzz teaches us about having a pure heart!

Andrew again showed us what the scripture says of "becoming like a little child" (innocence and purity of mind).

Last week, during the Christmas festivities, Amber was telling the kids about how many millions of kids in the world will be starving this Christmas. Andrew pipes up "no they won't mom, because we made food boxes for them last week with the Sunday School kids!

How many times do we as Christians feel we can't fix all the bad things in the world, so why try. It is easy to feel overwhelmed when you see how much poverty, hunger, and trouble there is in the world. Andrew reminded me that it does matter to the one, two, three or ten, that we do help. The bottom line is, am I doing what I have been called to do (serve and obey God, spread the gospel, and help the sick, hurting, and helpless). We do our best, and let God do the rest!!

Merry Christmas from the Grimms!!!

Macy great comment

Tonight at supper, Macy kept asking when grandma Sharon was coming. In her little girly voice she asked "um, um, is she coming at 20 after naps?".

Buzz thinks dad had 2 moms

Here is another classic from Andrew.

When I was young, we lived in the house that Barry and Joyce Kloter live in now. I have told the boys this different times.

Recently, Andrew was with Joyce and asked her "Joyce, how old were you when you were my daddy's mom?" Confused, Joyce told him that she was never my mom. Andrew piped up "but daddy said he used to live at YOUR house!!".

It all does make sense looking at it from a 5 year old's perspective, huh??

Funny Turkey Story from Buzz!

A few weeks back, Amber and the kids were at my aunt and uncles place, Scott and Phyllis Leman. Andrew saw a big stuffed turkey in the corner, and exclaimed "THAT IS THE BIGGEST CHICKEN I'VE EVER SEEN!".

Guess we haven't done a good enough job teaching poultry names to our kids, huh?

Thanksgiving program

Jayden's 1st grade class put on a Thanksgiving program today for family and friends. Their first performance was at Goodfield school, and then they went to Eureka nursing home and performed there. After that they got to go to Hardees which was a huge highlight for the kids!

They all did so good memorizing cute Thanksgiving songs and speaking up for us to hear! Their little hats and props were cute too!
I'm loving Jayden's grin in this pic!

Trick or Treat!!

Mom and dad had to join in the trick or treating fun this year........ Great memories!

Buzz wants a door for his birthday

Andrew's birthday is coming up. A few months ago, he and Jayden accidentally put a hole in mom Adam's basement door. I made a big deal about it to them and made them pay money from their piggy bank to teach them a lesson.

Forward to tonight. Andrew is telling us what he wants for his birthday. In a very innocent voice, he tells Amber "mom, can I have a door for my birthday, so I can give it to grandma Sharon?".

What a guy.......

Photos of new home

Many of you from out of town have been asking for photos of our new home, so here you go. Sorry they are 7 months late.

A craft blog

I decided to make an outlet for all my creative imaginations and inspirations! For about the past year or so I have been surfing the craft blog world and loving it! There are so many fun projects and ideas out there! Once I started trying some of the fun ideas I saw I couldn't wait to share them with someone. My family had to get e-mailed pictures of my creations. Now I decided to just post on a blog and if you are interested you can follow and comment! I'd love to hear from you! The new blog is: grimm-inspirations.blogspot.com.

Amber

Generation Gap!

Found a 1992 edition of "The Sporting News" magazine the other day. At work, a few of us were looking through it, remembering all the players from our childhood. One of our young technicians comes up, looks at it, and says "The Sporting News, whats that? Oh that must have been before the internet".....

Wow, do I ever feel old. Only 7 years age difference, but a total generation apart......

Mike

Kiss mom! Buzz great comment.

Saturday night, we were driving home from a wedding. Amb and I had to drive separate. On the way home, we both needed fuel. After pulling along side Amb, filling both vehicles, and taking back off, Buzz asked me "dad, why did you pull next to mom at the gas station?". I responded "because I like to be close to her".

Very loud, he exclaims "yeah, so you can kiss her!!".

Andrew, Andrew, Andrew....

Macy swallows a magnet ball.

A few weeks ago, the kids were playing our magnet building game. Macy coughed a little and then cried. Amber came into the room and asked "Macy did you swallow something"? She responded "yeah, a BALL!" We worried a little that she may have swallowed multiple magnet balls, so the next morning we got a x-ray done. Bet you can't tell where the ball was??

Thankfully it passed a few days later...Too funny!

Buzz learns to ride a bike (and run away from a cop))

Jayden teaching Buzz how to ride a bike without training wheels. The funniest part was later when he was riding down the street. He fell down right in front of a police car, and instead of getting help back on his bike, he freaks out and runs home.....

August 2011

It has been a very action packed summer and we have much to thank the Lord for.

Our out of town potluck group recently got together in Bradford, IL.

We kept our niece, Mallory Joos (from MN) for a few days. Loved having her here.

Jayden off to 1st grade!

A few weeks back, we had a bunch of Amb's cousins from Forrest, IL, for a Sunday. This was one of the calm moments.... Not many of those with 20 some kids running around....

Our good friends, Brandon and Maria Emch from Kansas City, stayed with us for a weekend recently. Very enjoyable time catching up on each other's lives.

Typical moment with the Grimm kids.

Splashdown water park a few Saturday's ago. Boys loved the water slides. Macy loved to whine.

Captured the kids playing "Church" the other day. Below is a video that will make you laugh. Hopefully Buzz learns to sing on pitch one of these days!

Kids do listen in Church....

Sometimes it is easy to think that kids don't pay attention in Church, but 2 things happened last night to disprove this.

During the service, while the boys were playing, we were reminded to put on the armor of God, and not try to defeat satan on our own. During this topic, the minister stated "don't ever run away from satan" (meaning don't do it on our own without God's help). Both boys looked up right away to me and said "why not, dad?". So the next 5 minutes I got to explain that satan can run faster than us, but God runs much faster, so as long as we trust in God, we will go faster than satan. :):)

Also, during the singing of "God is our Refuge", Andrew pipes up very loud "DAD, WHAT DOES REFUGE MEAN??".

Many Wednesday's, I am tempted to leave the kids at home because it is so hard to get 4 little kids ready for Church. But as Amber always reminds me, we are putting them under the sound of the Word! They hear more than we think!

Kisses??

Today I told Mariah she was going to get 1000 kisses. Andrew blurts out "NOT ON THE LIPS, EEEWWW". Jayden, a few years older and wiser, tells Andrew "Buzzy, you will HAVE to kiss on the lips when you get married!"

Wisconsin summer 2011

Random pictures from our trip to mom and dad's cabin in Wisconsin. Had a great time getting away from the business of work/life......

The beautiful northwoods. Worth a trip if you have never been there.

The Bear Trap Inn
Do you think the girls are enjoying their soda?

Good picture of dad, mom, and Matt.

Waiting for the 4th of July parade.

The boys are getting better on skis. We were able to disconnect the trainer rope and they did good.

Apples and popcorn by the fire. Yes, I said fire..... It's a different world up there. My kind of weather. Never too hot, gets cool at night, etc etc. The water is somewhere between freezing and bone chilling cold, but I love it! Amber on the other hand, has a different opinion.

Matt and his nephews on the tube. The boys loved having their uncle with us for 10 days.

Mariah and Jayden helping grandpa play on his phone.

Ready to go out to eat!

We had mom snap a quick family picture by one of the restaurants.

Getting a little crazy waiting for fireworks. It doesn't get dark up there until after 10:30! As you can see, Macy isn't too fond of the loud bangs...

Buzz got worn out the last day. This picture is priceless.

It's always good to go on vacation, and good to come home!